Gas-powered vehicles have a fuel system with a fuel tank, a fuel-level indicator, and a fuel pump. Some fuel systems further have an evaporative emission control system. The fuel tank stores fuel for the vehicle. The fuel tank contains the fuel pump, which draws fuel from the fuel tank to deliver to an engine, and the fuel-level indicator. The fuel-level indicator has a float, a rod, a wiper, and a variable resistor. The float is attached to an end of the rod. The rod and the wiper are fixed relative to each other and rotatably connected to the variable resistor. The float is buoyant and rests on a surface of the fuel in the fuel tank. The rod is freely rotatable relative to the variable resistor. If the float moves up or down, the rod rotates accordingly relative to the variable resistor. The wiper is positioned so that as the float moves from the top of the fuel tank to the bottom of the fuel tank, the rod rotates the wiper from one end of the variable resistor to the other end of the variable resistor. The wiper is electrically connected to a fuel gauge and to the variable resistor. The variable resistor is electrically connected to the wiper and to ground. As the wiper changes position relative to the variable resistor, an electrical resistance provided by the variable resistor changes. The fuel gauge detects a level of current flowing through the wiper and the variable resistor to ground. The current changes as the resistance changes, and the fuel gauge translates the current to a fuel level.